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20D + 2 lenses: please give me your feedback

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Andreas Asmus

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I like to buy a maximum of 2 lenses for my 20D - I am taking mainly nature photography, details,etc... and am not so much concerend about the widest angle possible - now my lens combination choices are:

1) Canon 17-40L and Canon 70-200/4L
or
2) Tamron 28-75/2.8 and Canon 70-200/4L

Now question: which one of these 2 options will be a better choice for me?
Thanks a lot!
 
Andreas Asmus said:
I like to buy a maximum of 2 lenses for my 20D - I am taking mainly
nature photography, details,etc... and am not so much concerend
about the widest angle possible - now my lens combination choices
are:

1) Canon 17-40L and Canon 70-200/4L
Click to expand...
This is a great combo for landscape and nature. I am thinking about getting the 17-40 f/4L myself.
Andreas Asmus said:
or
2) Tamron 28-75/2.8 and Canon 70-200/4L
Click to expand...
I have these two and they are a wonderful set for events such as a wedding. The Tamron is great for the indoor use handheld and the 70-200 f/4L can be used indoors with a monopod or tripod.
Andreas Asmus said:
Now question: which one of these 2 options will be a better choice
for me?
Click to expand...
You have to think about what you will be shooting primarily and decide.
--
Nelson
 
I think you would get more answers if you could be a bit more specific about the types of subjects you wish to photograph.

All three lenses you list have very good optics. I am sure you will be happy with the imgages from all of them.

The two Canon lenses are F4 though, which may create troubles for you in low light. If you think this is important then I suggest you look at the Sigma 70-200 F2.8EX. You will get similiar quality to the 4L but an extra stop of speed. Downside is that it is larger and heavier than the 4L.

Hope this helps a bit.

Ian
--
Ian Hobday
Osaka, Japan
http://hobday.net/photos
 
I read many good posts about the Tamron lens and purchased one about 3 weeks ago. As many people have experienced, my lens produced soft images when I shot it wide open. I've heard that you may have to evaluate 2 or 3 lenses before you find a good copy. The camera store shot some test shots and agreed with my evaluation and returned my money.

I've decided to go with the 17-40L because of the wider angle and quality. With combination 1 you can always add the 50 f/1.8 which is a great value given its price.

Randy
Andreas Asmus said:
I like to buy a maximum of 2 lenses for my 20D - I am taking mainly
nature photography, details,etc... and am not so much concerend
about the widest angle possible - now my lens combination choices
are:

1) Canon 17-40L and Canon 70-200/4L
or
2) Tamron 28-75/2.8 and Canon 70-200/4L

Now question: which one of these 2 options will be a better choice
for me?
Thanks a lot!
Click to expand...
--
Randy
 
hi guys- thanks for your feedback - now if low-light and macro capabilities are important would that change your recommendation? - thanks again...
Andreas Asmus said:
I like to buy a maximum of 2 lenses for my 20D - I am taking mainly
nature photography, details,etc... and am not so much concerend
about the widest angle possible - now my lens combination choices
are:

1) Canon 17-40L and Canon 70-200/4L
or
2) Tamron 28-75/2.8 and Canon 70-200/4L

Now question: which one of these 2 options will be a better choice
for me?
Thanks a lot!
Click to expand...
 
Andreas Asmus said:
hi guys- thanks for your feedback - now if low-light and macro
capabilities are important would that change your recommendation? -
thanks again...
Click to expand...
Currently I have:

Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 (general & low light)
Canon 70-200 f/4L
Canon 35 f/2 (low light)
Canon 135 f/2.8 (low light)
Sigma 18-125 (WA & walkaround)

I plan to add the 17-40 f/4L for WA and 85 f/1.8 for low light.

The 20D (even the 300D) produces clean pictures at ISO1600. Both the Tamron and the 70-200 f/4L can be used for indoor, low light shooting with a tripod or monopod. Here are links to the recent indoor stage shots taken with these two lenses plus the 135 f/2.8.
http://www.darwinonline.org/thumbnails.php?album=729
http://www.darwinonline.org/thumbnails.php?album=728
--
Nelson
 
Hi Nelson, thanks for your input - would you say the Tamron 28-75/2.8 is a good walk around lens? How would you rate the focusing speed? Since I am not into changing lenses too often I really like to restrict my lens choice to 2 here....

Thanks, andreas
bullet1 said:
Andreas Asmus said:
hi guys- thanks for your feedback - now if low-light and macro
capabilities are important would that change your recommendation? -
thanks again...
Click to expand...
Currently I have:

Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 (general & low light)
Canon 70-200 f/4L
Canon 35 f/2 (low light)
Canon 135 f/2.8 (low light)
Sigma 18-125 (WA & walkaround)

I plan to add the 17-40 f/4L for WA and 85 f/1.8 for low light.

The 20D (even the 300D) produces clean pictures at ISO1600. Both
the Tamron and the 70-200 f/4L can be used for indoor, low light
shooting with a tripod or monopod. Here are links to the recent
indoor stage shots taken with these two lenses plus the 135 f/2.8.
http://www.darwinonline.org/thumbnails.php?album=729
http://www.darwinonline.org/thumbnails.php?album=728
--
Nelson
Click to expand...
 
Another possibility would be the Canon 17-85mm f/4.0-5.6 EF-S with the Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS. This would give you a better maximum reach for wildlife and a pretty good coverage from 17-400mm (effectively 28-640mm in 35mm terms).

If you didn't need the wide angle, you could substitute the 24-85mm for the 17-85mm and save some money.

James
 
hello.. i have all 3 of these lenses. if i had to choose only 2 from all my collection i would pick 17-40 and 70-200.

tamron is an excellent lens but just not wide enough for me, but if you said you don't really care much about the wide angle then its perfect.

all of them are great lenses and i took thousands of photographs with all of them and i think only you can decide what is best for you.

thank you,
sergei
Andreas Asmus said:
I like to buy a maximum of 2 lenses for my 20D - I am taking mainly
nature photography, details,etc... and am not so much concerend
about the widest angle possible - now my lens combination choices
are:

1) Canon 17-40L and Canon 70-200/4L
or
2) Tamron 28-75/2.8 and Canon 70-200/4L

Now question: which one of these 2 options will be a better choice
for me?
Thanks a lot!
Click to expand...
--



http://members.shaw.ca/sergeibelski/
 
Andreas Asmus said:
I like to buy a maximum of 2 lenses for my 20D - I am taking mainly
nature photography, details,etc... and am not so much concerend
about the widest angle possible - now my lens combination choices
are:

1) Canon 17-40L and Canon 70-200/4L
or
2) Tamron 28-75/2.8 and Canon 70-200/4L

Now question: which one of these 2 options will be a better choice
for me?
Thanks a lot!
Click to expand...
The Sigma 18-50 f2.8 is supposed to be as sharp as the Canon 17-40, but is faster and gives you the added 10mm of reach. Also the Sigma 70-200 f2.8 is supposed to be very close to the Canon 70-200 F4L, but again is faster.

I don't have personnal experience with these, but your first combination is exactly the combination that I have been weighing against the two sigmas... so I thought I'd mention them to you.

sigh. decisions decisions
 
Thanks you very much for all your valuable insights - it is very helpful. I didn't consider any Sigma's at this time since none of them get the consistent good reviews the tamron 28-75/2.8 gets.

As for the combination 17-40 and 70-200: do you guys think I would miss the range in beteween for nature photography?

thanks,
andreas
Andreas Asmus said:
I like to buy a maximum of 2 lenses for my 20D - I am taking mainly
nature photography, details,etc... and am not so much concerend
about the widest angle possible - now my lens combination choices
are:

1) Canon 17-40L and Canon 70-200/4L
or
2) Tamron 28-75/2.8 and Canon 70-200/4L

Now question: which one of these 2 options will be a better choice
for me?
Thanks a lot!
Click to expand...
 
hi sergei,

thank you very much for your input - since you have all 3 lenses - what is your experience with the tamron 28-75/2.8 as far as focus speed is concerned when compared to the USM of the other 2 lenses.

thanks again
-andreas
sb11x said:
all of them are great lenses and i took thousands of photographs
with all of them and i think only you can decide what is best for
you.

thank you,
sergei
Andreas Asmus said:
I like to buy a maximum of 2 lenses for my 20D - I am taking mainly
nature photography, details,etc... and am not so much concerend
about the widest angle possible - now my lens combination choices
are:

1) Canon 17-40L and Canon 70-200/4L
or
2) Tamron 28-75/2.8 and Canon 70-200/4L

Now question: which one of these 2 options will be a better choice
for me?
Thanks a lot!
Click to expand...
--



http://members.shaw.ca/sergeibelski/
Click to expand...
 
Andreas Asmus said:
As for the combination 17-40 and 70-200: do you guys think I would
miss the range in beteween for nature photography?
Click to expand...
No, you won't miss that 30mm of range. I don't think there will be any time that you can't either move a little close or a little farther away to get the image you want.

That said, you might want to pick up a Canon 50mm F1.8 lens too. They are dirt cheap (US$80 or less new) and give very sharp images. Even wide open they are good. This will help you in lowlight situations where you can't use a tripod. They are also tiny and very light. You certainly won't notice the extra weight in your bag -- or even in a pocket!

Ian
--
Ian Hobday
Osaka, Japan
http://hobday.net/photos
 
Andreas Asmus said:
Hi Nelson, thanks for your input - would you say the Tamron
28-75/2.8 is a good walk around lens? How would you rate the
focusing speed? Since I am not into changing lenses too often I
really like to restrict my lens choice to 2 here....
Click to expand...
Hi andreas, the Tamron is a wonderful walkaround lens for both outdoor and indoor uses. It generally can be used handheld. It is a great wedding or event lens.

The focusing speed is fairly fast. Since it is not USM, you can hear the motor sound when it is focusing that may give a false impression of slowness since the USM based 70-200 is almost silent when focusing. I don't think you can go wrong with the Tamron or 17-40 f/4L. The Tamron does not have FTM since it is not USM.
--
Nelson
 
Andreas Asmus said:
I like to buy a maximum of 2 lenses for my 20D - I am taking mainly
nature photography, details,etc... and am not so much concerend
about the widest angle possible - now my lens combination choices
are:

1) Canon 17-40L and Canon 70-200/4L
or
2) Tamron 28-75/2.8 and Canon 70-200/4L

Now question: which one of these 2 options will be a better choice
for me?
Thanks a lot!
Click to expand...
--

Vadim
 
Ian Hobday said:
Andreas Asmus said:
As for the combination 17-40 and 70-200: do you guys think I would
miss the range in beteween for nature photography?
Click to expand...
No, you won't miss that 30mm of range. I don't think there will be
any time that you can't either move a little close or a little
farther away to get the image you want.

That said, you might want to pick up a Canon 50mm F1.8 lens too.
They are dirt cheap (US$80 or less new) and give very sharp images.
Even wide open they are good. This will help you in lowlight
situations where you can't use a tripod. They are also tiny and
very light. You certainly won't notice the extra weight in your
bag -- or even in a pocket!
Click to expand...
Although I agree with you but switching from the 17-40 f/4L and the 70-200 f/4L to the 50 f/1.8 would be a huge shock. The build quality is so different one might think it was made by some cheap third party. I had one for a while until it broke which I did feel too sorry.
--
Nelson
 
It's a great lens. I would choose it over the 17-40

(from option 1. and 2., I would pick 1.)
RCDinsmore said:
Andreas Asmus said:
I like to buy a maximum of 2 lenses for my 20D - I am taking mainly
nature photography, details,etc... and am not so much concerend
about the widest angle possible - now my lens combination choices
are:

1) Canon 17-40L and Canon 70-200/4L
or
2) Tamron 28-75/2.8 and Canon 70-200/4L

Now question: which one of these 2 options will be a better choice
for me?
Thanks a lot!
Click to expand...
The Sigma 18-50 f2.8 is supposed to be as sharp as the Canon 17-40,
but is faster and gives you the added 10mm of reach. Also the
Sigma 70-200 f2.8 is supposed to be very close to the Canon 70-200
F4L, but again is faster.

I don't have personnal experience with these, but your first
combination is exactly the combination that I have been weighing
against the two sigmas... so I thought I'd mention them to you.

sigh. decisions decisions
Click to expand...
 
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